SAS Group, parent of Scandinavian Airlines, on Tuesday announced a restructuring plan that will eliminate unprofitable routes and 3,000 jobs.
In addition, 5,600 employees will leave SAS as part of divested or outsourced operations. SAS last week sold its 47% stake in AirBaltic, Latvia’s national carrier, to the airline's management. On Monday, SAS sold its 80% stake in Spanair to investors in Spain.
The group also intends to sell stakes in Air Greenland, BMI, Estonian Air and Skyways.
The company said it would focus on serving business travelers in the Nordic market. About 75 flights, mostly to southern Europe, will be cut, according to a report in France’s International Herald Tribune.
SAS will remove 14 Scandinavian Airlines planes, or about 10% of its fleet, on short and medium-haul routes. On long-haul routes (outside Europe) the fleet will be reduced from 11 to nine.
SAS’s three national subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway and Denmark will cease to exist as separate companies. The current long-haul operation, SAS International, also will no longer be a separate business unit.
In Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo, three new base organizations will be formed as part of a central organization assuming responsibility for short- and long-haul services.
Capital will be raised through the sale of newly issued stock. SAS Group said it expected all shareholders, including the governments of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, to buy new stock. The stock issue is expected to raise about $723 million.
SAS Group posted a fourth-quarter net loss of about $337 million, compared with a $75 million loss a year earlier.